How To Say Hello In 50 Languages

Disclosure: Advertising and affiliate services, including Amazon Associates, help the cost of running my blog. Clicking ads or making purchases through affiliate links may, at no additional cost to you, earn me a small commission. I appreciate your support.

If you saw my recent post on how to say thank you in 50 languages when you travel, you know I’m all about being polite. Showing gratitude for even the smallest thing is something that I find is really important. Whether it’s someone helping you with directions, serving you food or in a store, or some other random act of kindness. But how do you get their attention? How do you start a conversation or interaction if you’re not sure how to speak the local language? That’s why I am writing this follow up post to help you learn how to say HELLO in other languages.

Greeting people while traveling

While learning how to say hello in other languages is important, you’d be surprised how far a simple smile gets you while traveling. Other physical greetings like handshakes are not always universal, but people can always tell you’re being friendly if you smile at them. So at the very least remember a nice welcoming smile.

But to go the extra step I recommend learning how to say hello in the local language of wherever you’re visiting. Not that many languages have a formal and informal version (like we have hello and hi!). Typically the formal version will be to those you don’t know, elders or as a sign of respect. The informal version will be to people you know, friends/family, and often is OK in shops and restaurants where you might visit as a tourist.

50 ways to say Hello

These are the 50 most popular languages you will likely come across while traveling. In some cases the word for hello is not used, but good morning, or good day is. Pronunciation is in brackets for the not so obvious words.

Afrikaans – Hallo

Albanian – Tungjatjeta (toon-jah-TYEH-tah); Good morning: Mirëmëngjes; Good afternoon: Mirëdita

Arabic – مرحبا – Marhaba (Alternate greeting: السلام عليكم/As-salam alaykom (pron. ahl sah-LAHM ah-LAY-koom, meaning “peace be upon you”)

Belarusian – Добрый день – Dobry Dzien (Informal: прывітанне – pryvitanne)

Bengali/Bangla – নমস্কার – Nômôskar (Informal: হ্যালো – Hyālō)

Bosnian – Dobar dan (formal); Zdravo (Informal)

Bulgarian – Добър ден – Dobar den (Informal: Здрасти – Zdrasti)

Burmese – မဂႆလာပၝ – Mingalaba

Croatian – Dobar dan (formal); Zdravo (Informal)

Czech – Dobrý den (informal: Ahoj)

Danish – Goddag (more widely used is the informal hej – pronounced like Hi!)

Dutch – Hallo

Estonian – Tere

Farsi/Persian – درود – Dorood (alternative: سلام – salâm)

Filipino – Kumusta

Finnish – Hyvää päivää (Formal), Hei (Informal)

French – Bonjour (more informal: salut)

German – Hallo (more formal: guten tag)

Greek – Γεια σου – ya sou

Hindi – नमस्ते – namaste

Hungarian – Jó reggelt/napot (good morning/afternoon); Informal: Szia (pron. see-ya)

Icelandic – Hæ / Halló

Indonesian – Selamat siang (Formal), Halo (Informal)

Italian – Ciao

Japanese – こんにちは – Konnichiwa

Korean –  안녕하세요 – Annyeonghaseyo Iinformal: annyeong)

Lao – ສະບາຍດີ – Saibaidee (pron. suh-bye-dee)

Latvian – Labdien (Informal: Sveiki)

Lithuanian – Sveiki / Labas)

Malay – Selamat pagi/petang/malam (Good morning/afternoon/night)

Maltese – Bonġu (pron. bon-jew) – good morning; Ħellow (Informal: Aw)

Mandarin Chinese – 你好 – Nǐ hǎo

Norwegian – God dag (Informal: Hei)

Polish – Dzień dobry (pron. jayn DOH-br); Informal: Cześć (pron. cheh-sh-ch)

Portuguese – Olá

Punjabi – ਸਤ ਸੀ੍ ਅਕਾਲ – Sat sri akaal

Romanian – Bună ziua (pron. BOO-nuh ZEE-wah)

Russian – Здравствуйте – Zdravstvujtye (pron. zdrah-stvooy-tee); Informal: Привет  – Privyet

Serbian – Добар дан – Dobar dan (Formal); Здраво – Zdravo (Informal)

Slovak – Ahoj

Slovenian – Živjo (ZHEE-vyoh) / Zdravo (pron. ZDRAH-voh)

Spanish – Hola

Swahili – Hujambo / jambo or Habari?

Swedish – God dag; Informal: Hej!

Thai – สวัสดี  – sà-wàt-dii + ka (for women to say), + krab (for men to say)

Turkish – Merhaba

Ukranian – Добрий день – Dobryi den; Informal: Привіт – pryvit

Urdu – السلام علیکم – Assalam-o-alaikum

Vietnamese – xin chào (pron. sin-chow)

Yue Chinese (Cantonese) – 你好 – néih hóu

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Do you always try to learn how to say thank you in other languages when you travel? What other important words do you learn?